


Fanganronpa: Despair Order

by PerhapsImAKlepto



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon Non-Binary Character, Character Death, Execution, Fangan Ronpa: Danganronpa Despair Order, Fanganronpa, Gen, Graphic Violence, Murder, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Protagonist and Antagonist have switching POV, Protagonist is a little shit, Stabbing, Strangling, Trans Character, Trust Issues, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:56:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25251235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerhapsImAKlepto/pseuds/PerhapsImAKlepto
Summary: Yuurei Maekawa, the SHSL Superstition Researcher, finds himself amongst a killing game with his classmates being lead by a Monobear-styled looking robot - a small fox plush that calls itself Monosune.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Prologue│A slashing introduction!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoy reading this- I put a lot of effort into constructing this entire Fanganronpa and i hope you enjoy reading this as it grows!  
> I did the sprite edits within this story and the art featured.  
> This is also cross-posted to Wattpad under the same name.

My name is **Yuurei Maekawa** , The **Super High School Level Superstition Researcher**

There isn't really anything special about my talent as there's not much I can do with it. Crossing my fingers allows me to boost my luck and knocking on wood helps me become more safe. The more i believe in one particular superstition, the more its effects will come into play. However, my talent doesn't interest me that much - it doesn't bring such a thrill as many would think. It may bring me the quote-on-quote 'power' to manipulate the world around me to my favour in times i need, however, the repeated use of it can get boring. That's why i use my talent for such things as **gambling** \- it makes the stakes much more interesting if i can **forcefully manipulate my own luck or skill** for the worse or better before hand.

I wanted to attend **Hope's Peak**. A prestigious school where only the best of the best can get into it - you're set for life if you get into there after all! People began calling the students there **Ultimates** because of this.. however the title of **Ultimate Superstition Researcher** never sat right with me for some reason.. is it the distaste for my talent? Who truly knows? But alas, you can already guess that's not where the story starts... or ends frankly.

* * *

"Hey.. wake up" A voice called out to the boy on the floor. Yuurei groaned in annoyance, opening his eyes slowly to a figure looming above him. It was a boy leaning over him, his eyes were narrowed upon first inspection but softened slightly as Yuurei began to sit up. Where was he? He couldn't tell. From the surroundings it looked like they were in the school's gymnasium, the other students had gathered there as well and only one had taken the courtesy to check if their fainted classmate was okay. The noirette turned his head back to the boy sat next to him and analysed the features he could see.

Dual-tone green hair cascaded down and framed his face almost perfectly, sharp candy red eyes that held a certain softness to them at the same time and an earthy skin tone with a single pale scar on his nose. Yuurei questioned how he got it before being snapped out his mini daze by the boy speaking up.  
  
"Are you going to keep staring or tell me why the hell you fainted?" he barked, his slightly hostile nature taking Yuurei completely off guard. He apologised profusely, standing up and offering the green haired boy his hand up and reluctantly he took it. Now that they were both standing up, it was obvious that Yuurei was more superior in height. The noirette stood around 5'10 whilst he could only guess the opposing boy was around 5'8 - He smiled at the smaller boy, taking in a deep breath before speaking.  
  
"I hate to disappoint you but i don't know why i fainted.. however it's nice to meet you, my name is Yuurei Maekawa"   
  
" **Kenji Maeda**.."  
  
"It's nice to meet you.. i presume by your rather.. bold dress sense you have some **artistic talent**?"  
  
"If you tried to mock me it won't work, i have tough skin so your insults won't do shit to me. But yeah, i'm the **Super High School Level Graffiti Artist**.. and i take it your some kind of goth?"

"Ah no.. i'm just a superstition researcher"  
  
"So you _are_ a goth"

The two kept talking back and forth (mostly about the other's dress sense). Yuurei managed to get a good grasp of Kenji full appearance - a brown and white hoodie, many simple yet intricate patterns were on the hoodie to the point it was hard to keep track of them all, a light grey-green tank top with a small splash pattern cascading down the top left, a pair of black jeans with a few holes ripped into them by accident and, oddly, a pair of climbing boots. Kenji also wore a gas mask around his neck, Yuurei presumed it was for when he was doing any art.

"You should probably go around and introduce yourself to everyone.. i've already done what i need to" He said, leaning back against the nearby wall. Yuurei nodded in response and looked around the gymnasium, scared and confused faces swarmed the area. He chose a random student and walked up to them, smiling and greeting them.  
  
"My name is Yuurei Maekawa.. what's your name?"  
  
"O-Oh! My name is **Kumiko Fujisawa** , i'm the **Super High School Level Poet**! It's nice to meet you!" She said, smiling brightly at the noirette. Yuurei grasped a basic hold of what she looked like- it was fitting to her cheery personality; Cerise red hair, Heterochromatic eyes (golden and green) and small freckles littered all around her face and arms. Kumiko raised her arms in a cheering motion and smiled, "Lets make sure to be good friends okay?"

"Of course! I don't see why we wouldn't be" He smiled back, rubbing the back of his neck in an almost shy motion, "I should go and introduce myself to the others now.. it was a pleasure to meet you!"  
  
Yuurei thanked her and walked away, looking for another student to talk to. There was a group of students not far from where he was stood which gained his attention quickly. Taking in a deep breath, he walked over, waving slightly as he did.  
  
"Ah.. you're not on the floor anymore.." Yuurei looked over and saw it was the tallest of the trio talking to him. A boy about 6'2 in height and rather soft in appearance - his hair was tied back in a lazy ponytail and a few red roses sat in his hair. Everything about him felt laid back and calm despite his bluntness, it brought the noirette a sense of needed peace during a sudden confusing time, "Sorry.. my name is **Naoki Shirai**.. i'm the **Super High School Level Florist** "

The other two sat with him looked over. One was a girl who looked to be about 5'7 and another boy who was the same height. The girl smiled, holding out her hand for Yuurei to shake it, " **Hanae Tamaki** , **Super High School Level Radio Hostess** , pleasure to be meeting you- such a pleasure!" She said, shaking his hand with an excited vigour. Yuurei retracted his hand and smiled awkwardly, slightly overwhelmed by how extroverted someone could be. 

"You seem to be full of personality-" She said, circling and inspecting Yuurei, "I bet you have _a lot_ of stories huh? Are your eyes naturally like that or are they contacts?- They look so glassy..."

_So she's the curious type?_

"A- Ah not really.." He laughed in response, stepping away from Hanae quickly. His eyes drew to another in the group. The other boy was more silent, fiddling with the hair he had tied back - his entire outfit looked strange; after all it was heavily patch-worked and stitched up.. perhaps he was the **Super High School Level Puppet Maker**? It would explain the plush he was carrying.. which in itself was creepy. The button it had for an eye shone brightly compared to the rest of its dull-coloured body. He flinched once he saw Yuurei staring and apologised profusely, his complexion growing worried and almost faint, "I- I apologise.. my name is **Daichi Saitou**.. **I don't remember my talent**.. i apologise..again" 

"You don't need to apologise at all, i'm sure sooner or later it may come to you Saitou"

"You.. mean that"? The meek boy responded, clutching his plush tightly. 

"My name is Yuurei Maekawa, it's nice to meet the three of you"

The three of them talked for a few minutes- Daichi introducing his plush as patchwork (which was a fitting name given its stitched up and almost broken appearance), Hanae trying to interview Yuurei about his talent and what it does whilst Naoki tried to calm her down. The three of them interested him since they all were so different from each other but got along perfectly despite their differences. Were there others here like this too? Yuurei thanked them and walked away, looking around for another group to introduce himself too.

He felt a tapping on his shoulder, causing him to whip round and bang his head against another in front of him. It was a girl, smaller than him and dressed in a waitress fashion- perhaps it was her talent? Two others ran up to her as she rubbed her head and apologised quietly. Her hair was plum coloured and tied into two pigtails that hung in front of her, eyes ocean blue and skin with discoloured patches in places. It was obvious to him that she had vitiligo.

"I- I'm sorry i didn't mean to do that!" She said, rubbing her arm, "My n- name is **Takara Konada** by the way.. i'm the **Super High School Level Waitress**.."

The other two checked to see if she was alright. One was taller than Yuurei by an inch, hair tied up into a wild ponytail of fiery colours. She was covered in bandages, oil, bruises and burns- just what in the hell was her talent in order to cause that? The other girl was much smaller than both girls and looked quiet by how she appeared; brown hair brushed to the sides and a face mask covering her that had a few paint stains on it. She hadn't spoken a word compared to the fiery haired girl who couldn't keep her mouth shut. Ah, so there were other students like Hanae's group.

"Are you okay Konada-chan??"

"I- I'm fine Maki-san"

"You meanie why didn't you watch where you were going??" She sneered at Yuurei, hugging Takara. Yuurei stepped back a bit, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous smile.

"I apologise.. My name is Yuurei Maekawa.. what about you two?"

The fiery haired girl let go of Takara, smiling brightly and then speaking, " **Rin Maki** \- sorry bout that! I'm the **Super High School Level Pyrotechnist**.. that uh.. that explains the bruises and burns"

The brunette coughed to gain their attention, playing with her sleeve as she softly spoke up, " **Rikori Seiki**.. **Super High School Level Paintballer**.. I don't really like to talk much.. sorry"

Rin put an arm around Rikori, pulling her close and grinning at her, "Rikori is a bit shy but don't let that fool ya! She's an absolute monster at paintball!", Rikori looked away and pulled her hood up in response, clearly not enjoying the attention Rin was putting onto her. She backed away once she say Rikori's discomfort and silently apologised to her, the brunette nodded and simply shrugged her off. The trio seemed to be fairly close to each other.. as close as someone could be to Rikori Yuurei supposed - She seemed awfully distant but grew more comfortable around Rin. Perhaps they were close?

"Everyone can i have your attention?"

Heads turned almost robotically to the girl who'd climbed up onto the stage. She looked to have a magical girl attire going on - the classic school uniform with the scarf tied into a big bow and held together by a crystal pin. Her arms were littered in bracelets of all different colours mashed together, matching the bright personality she was already presenting. Hair framed her face in waves of sun-coloured curls and an even brighter smile was plastered onto her face.

"We're all **trapped in this place with no idea how we got here** right?" She said, looking down at the nodding crowd, "Since we're all in the same page we should all explore where we are for now! I checked the doors to this gymnasium before and they're open.. lets split into pairs and explore and since there's sixteen of us no-one should be left out! Meet back here once you're done!"

Crowds began splitting apart and forming pairs of students, Yuurei quickly looked around and spot someone who wasn't already taken, quickly running over and waving his hand.

"Maeda!"

"You again? The hell do you want"

"We have to go into pairs and explore the building.. me and you are the only ones without partners so we should team up"

"Fine whatever" He growled in annoyance, "Beats leaning against the wall anyway"

* * *

The two decided to pair up and explore what was available to them in the school. Kenji gave the idea to check out the furthest rooms first because less people would go there first; Yuurei agreed and the pair began to walk there. The hallways looked like any normal Japanese High School.. apart from the fact the windows were barricaded with heavy iron plates which made the flickering lights the only source of light in the hallways. The green haired boy opened the furthest door and spoke,

"Art rooms. Looks like someone beat us to here"

Yuurei walked in and took a quick glance around the room. It was mostly empty, no canvases were set up and all the art equipment was neatly packed away in the closet located at the back of the classroom. A rather skinny, medium-height boy was trying to open the door, fumbling with the doorknob and giving up with an annoyed grunt. He turned round and momentarily flinched before relaxing once again. Blond hair cascaded his face and almost covered his left eye, most of his hair was hidden by the beanie he was wearing - a few pins were stuck on the beanie as well, mirroring the ones Yuurei saw on his blazer. From first impression, he looked to be an airhead.

"Didn't notice you there!"

"What were you doing..?" Kenji spoke up, sitting atop the teacher's desk and swinging his legs back and forth.

"Tryna open the art closet and it won't budge!"

"And where's your partner?"

"Ahah- He went off on his own"

"Are you an **artist** by any chance?" Yuurei said, tilting his head to the side in slight curiousity.

"Nope! I'm the **Super High School Level Dancer** \- **Katashi Ishikawa** , nice to meet ya!" He said, sticking his hand out for Yuurei to shake, which he happily did.

"Dancer huh?" Kenji raised his eyebrow, "Then how many do you know?"

"I know many! I'm not good at all of them but with enough practise i should be able to be! I- If i mind the fact i have pretty brittle bones" He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Brittle bones? I bet your a wonderful dancer even if you face difficulties!" Yuurei smiled at him, Katashi smiled in thanks.

"C'mon edgelord we need to keep looking around"

"I'm not-" Yuurei Sighed, "Thank you Ishikawa, we'll see you round!"

"I'll be here if ya need me!"

Kenji walked out of the art room with Yuurei following close behind and a voice could be heard down the hall talking rather loud. Not knowing where else to go, they followed, peeking their heads around the corner of the neighbouring room. A small, raggedy looking boy was stood next to a tall and traditional-dressed girl. She was wearing her hair high in a bun, a ruby butterfly clip in her hair alongside a traditional purple and gold kimono - she had an elegant flare to her compared to the smaller boy. He looked worn and almost like a ragdoll from how his clothes were. They were hastily but neatly sewn and a few metal staples held the sleeves of his hoodie in place. The girl turned her head and saw Yuurei and Kenji looking at them. 

With a warm smile she spoke, "You must be the one who passed out before.. how are you feeling?"

Yuurei felt safe around her, her gentle aura calming and relaxing; however Kenji seemed to be the opposite. He was clearly on edge and made it very clear, however still spoke up a few times during conversation.

"Have you found anything around here yet?" Yuurei asked her, glancing around the room they were in. It was a spare classroom with the desks still laid out for use. 

"No not yet.. not even the spirits have found anything"

"Spirits?"

She laughed a little, "Of course.. I'm **Chiyo Ueda** , the **Super High School Level Spirit Medium**.. it's nice to meet your acquaintance"

"Yuurei Maekawa, i feel the same" 

Kenji looked at the boy in the corner of the room- He had light brown hair that faded to a more musky colour and had light brown eyes to match. The brunette was picking at one of the metal staples on his sleeves, looking at them with a weird concentration. Chiyo called for him, the boy immediately moving and walking over to the group of students. He clearly seemed nervous.

"I apologise.. usually i like to be alone" He said, his tone of speech much more refined and cleaner than his appearance. He raised his hand and put a finger to his mouth - almost like he was about to start chewing his nails to calm himself down, "I'm not the best with people..a- anyway.. my name is **Riku Hamasaki** , I'm the **Ultimate Hacker** "

"You're the only one to call yourself an ultimate.. how come?" Kenji asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Riku laughed nervously, "I have confidence in my abilities.. therefore i have confidence in my chances in being an ultimate"

"For as timid as you look you sure have a lot of faith in yourself" Yuurei said, all the brunette could do was smile nervously in return. He was clearly uncomfortable with the amount of attention he was receiving.

* * *

It was a drawn out conversation but eventually the duo managed to leave. Kenji sighed in relief, walking down the hall and to the left. A few more rooms were down this small corridor and only one seemed to be occupied by an exploring group. Yuurei took liberty and opened the door. It was the drama classroom- most of the props being stored in the corner and the open storage closet at the back. Small white scribbles were doodled onto the chalkboard at the front - mostly chibi versions of what looked like some of the students who used to be in the classroom.

"Oh, hey!" A girl said, walking over to Yuurei. He smiled and gave a small wave. Kenji looked over, raising his eyebrow for a brief moment before letting his eyes wander to the other side of the classroom, "Welcome! Me and Konada were just looking around this place.. there isn't much but hey we'll work with what we've got!"

"You're rather optimistic for this situation, you don't even know where we are- no-one does! For all we know our lives could be in danger or worse" Kenji said bluntly, the girl laughing at his comment.

"Realism may be ideal right now but a little optimism never hurt anyone" She grinned, " **Yuri Tsnoda**! The **Super High School Level Bassist**! Good to meet ya!"

"Yuurei Maekawa.. the boy in the back is Kenji Maeda"

"I found something" Takara's voice rang out from the storage closet, She came out holding what looked like an old fox plushie - one side dark like someone had smothered it's right side in paint and the other a vibrant orange; reminiscent of the stereotypical fox look. What was odd about the plush is how it was kept in great condition despite being stuffed away in a storage closet - but the thing that was even odder was its smile. The dreaded smile. The orange side looked like your average plush, beady plastic eyes and a black, curved line for the mouth. The other side, however, had a red streak for an eye with a long, fang-bearing grin. Yuurei backed away from it slightly, something making his gut scream that.. that _thing_ wasn't safe. 

"You scared Maekawa?" Yuri teased, taking the plush from Takara's grasp and waving it in front of him.

"That thing isn't safe"

"So you are!"

"I have a good reason to be!"

Everyone kept teasing Yuurei over the plush, suddenly turning their heads to the sound of the door opening again. A boy walked in, light brown hair with dual tone eyes and hoodie - that surprisingly linked up in colour. He spotted the plush Yuri was holding and immediately ran over, stars in his eyes as he inspected it. Yuri allowed him to hold it and he did with glee, taking close looks at the detail in the streaked eye and the fur on the entire thing.

"I've never seen one in such good condition before! Where did you find it?" He beamed, head quickly looking at all the faces in front of him. Takara pointed to the closet and he raised his eyebrow in confusion, "Strange.."

"You know what that thing is?" Kenji said, walking over to the group and took one look at the plush, a look of disgust quickly flashing across his face.

"Mhm! It's a Monobear model! However it seems to be a fox version.. i'm not sure what they were called" He said, looking the plush in the face and smiling, "Normally they look like bears and have some kind of kuma prefix.. i assume this one must have the sune prefix for it being a fox? Monosune perhaps?"

"It does look cute.." Takara commented, "Perhaps Saitou-san may know something about this?"

"Maybe.. oh- my name is **Kohaku Hisakawa** by the way! I'm the **Super High School Level Theorist**!"

* * *

Everyone began heading back to the gymnasium, Yuurei and the group he met in the drama classroom followed him, Kohaku holding the monosune plush close and silently inspecting it as the others made small talk on the way back. The magical girl took the stage again, hopping up with another boy who was much taller than her - he looked to be about 5'9 whilst she was 5'5. Latte brown hair that faded into a chocolate colour and ice blue eyes to match.

"I guess we found nothing huh.." She sighed, but quickly lifted the mood back up, "Not to worry! As the **Super High School Level Magical Girl** i will do everything in my power to get us out of here!"

The others around cheered and nodded in agreement to her small statement, she smiled brightly in response to their cheers, keeping the atmosphere hopeful for those struggling.

"For those who didn't manage to meet me, I'm **Chinatsu Ogawa** and I will do my best to lead you all through these times!"

The student next to her spoke up, clearing his throat and looking down at everyone from the stage- it was a strong sense of authority that he presented which made everyone around quiet and listen.

"My name is **Kohi Mame** , i'm the **Super High School Level Barista** and I too will help you all during this as well. I may not be the strongest due to physical abilities but i assure you that won't be a problem for me"

"They're a really good helper so if you can't turn to me for anything, please turn to them!"

A few mutters spawned around the crowd but slowly died off. Yuurei kept a mental note of Chinatsu referring to Kohi as they and continued on listening to what both of them were saying. Their missing arm raised many questions in Yuurei's mind, however he decided not to press it as it would be a sensitive subject for Kohi - at least he presumed.

However there was always one.

"What's with your arm?" Hanae piped up, her overbearing curiosity making everyone collectively sigh a little.

"My arm is none of your business" He said, looking away slightly annoyed, "Please don't ask about it.. it's a sensitive issue"

Naoki quickly shunned Hanae for speaking without thinking and quickly she apologised to Kohi, who accepted it in a heartbeat - they must've been used to those types of questions, Yuurei supposed.

"How boorrrring you all are! I thought you guys would've been fun!"

Everyone froze, a voice echoed around the room that sounded alien to everyone. Fear frozen faces looked at one another silently, trying to spot the source of the voice.

"Yoohoo! Down here!!"

Kohaku made a noise of surprise, dropping the plush he was holding and backing away from it in a panic. It lifted itself off the floor and waddled over to the stage where Chinatsu and Kohi were stood. They backed a great distance away from the plush, eyes wide when it features became more animated compared to the lifeless features it took on before.

"Much better! You guys are really boring..."

Rin was the first to make a derogatory comment, "W- What the fuck?? It's alive???"

"Of course i am" It responded, grinning with those unsettlingly sharp teeth, "What did you think i was- some stupid doll? I'm a monobear robot! **Monosune** is the name!!"

Kohaku's face switched from brief fear to excitement, "So i was right!"

"This is not the time to be excited about that you fucking moron!" Kenji yelled at him

"Nyahaha! For a theorist you got the brains but clearly common sense! How sad....."

"H- Hey i do have common sense!" He fought back, "The hell do you even know?!"

"Enough to know you shouldn't really be testing my patience boy!"

* * *

And just like that, everything changed.

Kohaku lifelessly slumped to the floor after Monosune landed besides him, wiping the bloodstained floor of his hands. Everyone was silent, like our vocal cords had been suddenly snatched. We couldn't scream, cry.. nothing. Just watch in frozen terror as we watched the murder of our classmate unfold before our very eyes.

"Whoopsie!" Monosune laughed

I felt myself go sick, putting my hand to my mouth as he spoke. The twisted undertone of his voice finally lurching out as he shook his paw clean of blood, stepping back up to the gymnasium stage and looking down at all the students. His mouth opened wide as a laugh erupted from him, once something cute and random turned horribly sickening to hear. 

"Welcome students to your new life of killing!- that's right, you're all in a killing game!"

I held my breath even tighter than i currently was, feeling my head go light from holding it for so long. A killing game? What was this..this thing on about?

"K- Killing game?" Takara stammered, shaking in her place. I could hear her small sobs under her breath that she tried to mask to the best of her ability. I felt bad for her, I really did.

I looked over to Yuurei, his eyes showing twisted excitement and interest to what that thing was saying. I looked at him in disgust. How the hell could he be excited by the near chance of fucking dying? I put my arms around myself, pulling the hoodie falling off of my shoulder closer to me in an attempt to calm myself. 

"Isn't it exciting Maeda?" Yuurei spoke, turning to look at me as he did. Glassy violet eyes lifeless but at the same time showing so much chaotic emotion behind them, "A huge gamble for us all.. to risk our lives in some game! It's much more better than some mundane school life that only becomes repetitive and boring overtime.."

"You're fucking sick.." I responded, taking a good few steps away from Yuurei. He smiled back at me calmly, eyes still carrying that lifeless emotion to them. He's mad.. they're all mad. 

"Aaanyway you all have dorms in this building! I've opened up the bit to where they were.. so good luck!"

Monosune soon disappeared after it said that, leaving the rest of us silent and looking around for the dorms. Everyone moved quickly apart from me and Katashi who stayed behind, he looked sad.. I guess he was close to Kohaku? I saw him steadily removed the bloodied hoodie from what remained of Kokahu, looking at the fabric and beginning to cry into it. I silently stared for a few seconds, walking over to see what exactly was wrong.

"Were.. you close?" I asked, kneeling down next to Katashi. He looked up at me through tear stained eyes and gave a simple nod.

"Everything flooded back at that one moment.. fucking.. DAMMIT!" He yelled, hitting the floor with his fist and wincing audibly. His hand started bruising fairly quickly because of the punch to the floor. I sighed, helping him up. Through his sobbing, he tried to thank me, i got the message and helped him to his dorm.

"If you need to you can stay with me for the night" I said in a mumble, he smiled a little, shaking his head but thanking me for the offer.

"Maeda.. you know what?"

"What?"

"You're a lot less scarier like this.."

Katashi opened the door to his dorm, stepping inside and quickly shutting it, leaving me out in the hallway by myself. I decided to go into my own dorm, opening the door and taking a quick peek inside. It was simple enough.. i guess? There was a bed and a few drawers with a bathroom in the corner. A monitor was present alongside a camera.. great.. was that thing going to watch us sleep too?

"Great" I groaned, falling back onto my bed after kicking off my shoes. At least it was somewhat bearable to sleep on.. could i even call it sleeping? I don't even know if i'll make it through the night- or if any of us will. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how this entire thing turns out.


	2. Chapter 1 | A Dead Girl's Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The daily life of killing begins! What will the students do when Monosune explains the rules of the game?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to switch the drawing style back to lineless because i feel more comfortable drawing.  
> Also chapter formats are like this:  
> \- Main Story + FTE + Body Discovery  
> \- Investigation  
> \- Trial  
> \- Execution + Aftermath (Relatively shorter than other chapters)  
> ****  
> Also fun fact i learnt how to make onigiri and play Go from writing this chapter so that's fun cause i needed to research shit.

_Bing Bong Bing Bong!_

__

"Wakey Wakey! It's now 7AM and a new day is upon us within this game nyahah!"

Kenji groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eye. The piercing laughter of Monosune waking him up from a slightly restless sleep. He sat up, grabbing his discarded hoodie from the floor and putting it over his shoulders. If anything he was surprised he managed to survive the night- especially with how Yuurei reacted to the entire game. What the hell was wrong with him? He couldn't understand the boy at all but he could make loose assumptions- from what he knew of the Superstition Researcher talent is that it acted similarly to what a **Lucky Student** possesses - however the Superstition Researcher was more weak, controllable and not as world altering. Kenji could only guess it bored the shit out of him from the amount of predictability.

"Please gather in the gymnasium- i have somethings i need to explain"

The green haired boy put his head in his hands, gripping onto his hair momentarily before getting back up and grabbing his gas mask from the side, clipping it around his neck and quickly tying his shoes. He opened and closed the door to his room and just to his luck, Yuurei stepped out of his room at the same time.

"Maeda! How did you sleep?" He smiled, like he hadn't previously shown his true colours the day before.

"Shut up" He barked at the noirette, rubbing his eye in the process. He was still tired even after getting a usual amount of sleep. 

"I suppose you don't trust me after that entire.. personality switch yesterday, huh?" 

Kenji remained silent.

"I apologise.. i get excited around something resembling a gamble since the possibilities excite me- i.. usually don't realise how creepy i can become"

"Right.. whatever"

"I wonder what Monosune wants?" Yuurei said, putting his hands together in a sort of clapping motion, "Perhaps he has a task for us?"

Whatever it was it wasn't going to be something good; anyone could reach that conclusion.

Kenji stayed silent, walking ahead and turning the corner sharply where a bunch of other students were walking to the gymnasium. Most of them seemed normal (as normal as this entire scenario could be), however it was clear under what was trying to be a brave facade, most were terrified and still shaken by what everyone witnessed in the gymnasium yesterday. It still seemed strange to think about what was witnessed. 

Katashi was silently trailing behind the group of students in front. He looked horrible- his eyes red and puffy from what was obviously crying, drained from lack of sleep and shivering from the feeling of loosing someone close to him. Around his shoulders was a now clean hoodie that used to belong to Kohaku. Kenji felt his heart sink slightly at the sight in front of him- he couldn't imagine loosing someone that close to him.. but regarding what they were in that thought might not just stay a thought.

"Is everyone here?" Monosune said, waddling over to the stage and sitting down on it, "finallyyyy you all are slowpokes!"

No-one responded to Monosune's lighthearted comment. The plush groaned in annoyance but quickly brushed it off and continued to explain the rules to this.. game.

"Now then.. after that little accident yesterday i can finally start explaining the rules! A shame to what happened.. i didn't even need to kill him nyahah! He was just annoying"

"What do you mean you didn't need to kill him?!"

Everyone turned their heads to Katashi, fresh tears streaming down his face as he yelled at the plush on the stage. Monosune didn't budge at all.. He just stared with a sickening grin. 

"I _said_ i didn't need to kill him- are you deaf??"

Katashi looked defeated, wiping his tears with his sleeve and continued to silently cry throughout Monosune's explanation.

"Annywayyyy" He started, "Time for me to explain the rules! Of course you already know that this is a killing game so you must kill someone and not get caught! If you do this successfully then you get to leave and see your family again! Nyahah!"

"O- Our family..?" Kumiko said, "How do we know you haven't done anything to them!?"

"Jeez you act as if i'm the scum of the earth- i have boundaries. I'm not gonna touch your families because i'm juuuuust that nice!"

"Your plan has holes.. how can you be sure we'd turn on each other and resort to murder?" Rikori spoke up, glaring at the plush. Monosune flinched from her gaze slightly, quickly regaining his composure and replying.

"Well there's always motives right? This one can be that you get to see your families again!"

Kenji stood still in thought. Why would this thing even put them through some kind of psychological torture? It was obvious someone was controlling him- a plush isn't capable of sentience or this level of intelligence. It wasn't possible.

"Is there someone controlling you?" Kenji asked, "There's no way you're fucking sentient.. there's gotta be someone controlling you like... like- like a **mastermind** or some shit"

"Maybe.. maybe not. You'll never know!"

Everyone looked at each other and muttering rose in the air. The question Kenji had said struck hard debate because there is a huge possibility someone in this very room was controlling him.. or perhaps there was a 17th student? The theories were endless and the only chance we had at solving them had been gutted like some fish. Whatever intellect the group had, Kenji knew it had to be banded together in some messy amalgam of knowledge- it was the only way they'd be able to survive this hellhole and save as many people as they could. 

"Well i'll leave you guys be now.. that's all i wanted to say! Bye Bye!" Monosune said, disappearing suddenly into thin air. 

Students began to disperse and try to remain calm in such a situation. Perhaps some more info could be learnt about them.

* * *

Yuurei was the only one left within the entire gymnasium. He laughed a little to himself, trying to remember a mental map of the place he had walked around. He had heard Chinatsu briefly talk about a club room being located on this floor- perhaps that would be a good place to start? It would be something more different than the rooms he's already explored.

Yuurei decided the club room Chinatsu spoke of was the place to go. He walked down the hallway, carefully scanning the door labels until he reached the aforementioned club room that was talked about. Grabbing a hold of the handle, Yuurei opened the door. The place itself was fairly large and looked like it belonged to a culture club - a Go board was present against the wall alongside the stones set out in two small pots with some still scattered about. Kenji was sat at one side of the board, cleaning up the stones and putting them back into the retrospective pots. The green haired boy looked up at the sound of the door being opened.

"Oh. It's you" He said, turning his head back to the Go board and the pots. 

"Do you know how to play it?" Yuurei asked, taking the opposing seat to Kenji. 

"Yeah i do.. what of it?"

"Then lets play! It'll be fun" He said smiling, "We can make it more interesting by using the rule of Ko or should we leave that?"

"Leave the rule" Kenji responded, handing Yuurei the pot of black stones, "Do you want a rundown of the rules?"

"I guess a refresh would be nice.."

"Right. Usually in this game black stones go first- that's why i've given you the black stones. We take turns to place a stone onto an intersection and each stone has a thing called a liberty"

Yuurei nodded, placing down one of his black stones in the top right intersection.

"A stone in the middle of the board like that one has four liberties around it. One in the corner has two and one against the side has three. If i successfully place four of my stones around one of yours, i capture it and add it into my pot- the same thing happens if you capture one of my stones"

Kenji paused from explanation, placing down one of his stones next to Yuurei's. The noirette fought back immediately, putting another one of his stones around Kenji's white one.

"If you surround two of my pieces with your stones, then you capture both of them in a group and add them into your pot" Kenji placed down another stone, "The game ends when one of us runs out of pieces to play or calls forfeit" 

"That sounds simple enough" Yuurei laughed, placing down another one of his stones next to a white one. During this game he took the time to read Kenji's body language - he was obviously tense from the threat of a killing game on everyone's shoulders however masked most of it with a bored and borderline emotionless expression. Yuurei figured he was either good at reading people from the amount of time he's spent gambling or Kenji is an incredibly bad actor. For the green haired boy's sake, Yuurei pretended to believe it was because of his gambling experience.

"Ah- looks like you captured some of my stones" The noirette laughed.

"I'm guessing these types of games aren't your strong suit- you mentioned something about gambling before.. the fuck's up with that?"

Yuurei took the white stones and placed them in his pot, "Gambling? It's more or less an addiction for me in some sense"

"So you're not only an idiot- you're a compulsive gambler too" He sighed, surrounding a large group of Yuurei's stones and capturing them, "I guess gambling makes you people smart huh"

"In a sense.. it helps me read people and when they're about to crack from pressure. It's sometimes funny to watch!"

"You're weird"

The two continued to play in silence, the occasional frustrated grunt from Kenji and small victorious giggle from Yuurei as the tables turned to favour the noirette.

"Lady Luck truly felt like blessing me! I've not played Go in so long so it's fortunate i'm doing so well!"

"You can alter your luck so don't speak bullshit to me Maekawa"

"i suppose you are correct.. and.. you pay attention to my talent?"

"What else is there to do"

"Again.. you are correct- ah! i won!"

"Beginners luck" He said, beginning to reset the game and clear away the stones back into their respective pots.

"That was fun.. i suppose we can play again sometime?"

"Whatever.."

 _Kenji and I grew a little closer today_ , Yuurei thought, thanking the smaller boy and stepping out into the room. Closing the door behind him, the noirette wondered where else he could go. 

Yuurei began wandering the halls as there wasn't exactly much else to do. There was rooms like the classrooms or the gymnasium but he decided to check out a portion he didn't get to explore well with Kenji. Taking a quick direction change to the south, Yuurei began walking towards the canteen where a prominent air was coming in from the kitchen. The entrance to the kitchen itself was easily missed if you didn't notice the small doorway that blended in with the surroundings fairly easy.

Yuurei peeked his head around the corner and saw Kohi preparing something. Their usual brown jumper was off and just the plain white shirt they wore underneath was present alongside their apron. Whatever happened to their arm was more prominent now - the stump was slightly scarred however Yuurei didn't bother to question it as it wasn't his business. However the deep scratches and scars on his other arm concerned him slightly - it must've caught Kohi's attention.

"Maekawa" They said, "What are you doing here?"

"Ah i was just wandering about.. is this a bad time?"

"No no you're alright.. i saw you staring at my other arm. Don't worry about the scratches they're old"

"You.. don't find it rude?" He asked, shrugging off his blazer and taking off his jumper, hanging them up on the peg near the entrance.

"People are curious so i can't expect someone not to stare- it only bothers me when i'm pestered about it.. more or less whatever Tamaki does"

The noirette laughed a little, walking over to Kohi and seeing if they needed any help.

"If you want to help can you prepare the rice? I'm only doing something simple since my cooking knowledge isn't... exactly the greatest"

"What is it you're trying to make? I could know the recipe"

"It's just simple meat onigiri.. miso beef i think? I don't know I got inspired by a video game one time"

"I think I understand how to make it" Yuurei exclaimed proudly, gathering the ingredients needed to make rice for the rice balls, "However rice balls are always tricky..ahah"

"You'll be better than me i can just about season the beef correctly"

The two began working on making the onigiri - first cooking the rice in the rice cooker and making the miso mixture in a separate bowl. They combined whatever they could find in the kitchen that would fit as close to Kohi's original recipe for miso beef. Most things that were needed were there apart from misin however Kohi was quick to say it wasn't exactly needed as it was just a personal preference. As they both waited for the rice to cook Kohi quickly started to season the strips of beef with the mixture and some pepper before putting it into a pan.

"It's going well so far" They said with some relief.

"I'm sure it'll stay that way"

After making sure the meat was cooked the whole way through, Kohi seasoned it with some salt before putting it into another bowl. The rice was done by this point and carefully Yuurei took it out and put it into a separate bowl.

"You'll need to do this part.. it's quicker"

Yuurei nodded and got a bowl of water, wetting his hand and putting salt in the other one, carefully patting it down onto his hand and denting the middle where he put some of the beef into and then used the rice in the corners to cover the beef and roll the thing into a ball. Once he had done that, he squished it into a triangle shape. They both repeated until all the rice and beef had been used up.

"That should be enough for everyone to have at least two. We can just put them down on a tray for now and i'll put the mori and furikake when it's ready to be served. Thanks for helping"

"It's no problem, really!"

"Oh and also- if you see anyone around tell them to come to the cafeteria later

 _Kohi and I grew a little closer today_ , Yuurei thought as he waved Kohi goodbye, washing his hands again and grabbing his blazer and jumper from the peg. 

Yuurei walked out of the cafeteria, making his way around the floor to tell everyone to head to the cafeteria later on. Most people just simply nodded and continued on with what they were doing with some of the other students- the only one he found alone was Kumiko, busily brainstorming away on a piece of paper next to her blank (if you excluded the lines already on the paper) notepad. Her foot was tapping rhythmically on the floor as she tried to think - it spiked Yuurei's curiosity.

The noirette walked over to the girl, sitting in the chair infront of her desk, "What are you doing?"

"Oh M- Maekawa!" She said, slightly shook from Yuurei appearing out of nowhere, "Just trying to think of something to write.. I usually do it to get my mind off of things but I've come to a dead end..."

"Like a writer's block?" 

"Almost i guess.." The cerisette sighed and put her pencil down, "It's hopeless! I just wanted to write some crummy poem anyway..."

"Can i have a look at your work?"

"Sure" She passed him her notebook and Yuurei inspected it carefully. The poems were only short however the overall message was clear and strong within the piece - no unnecessary digging was needed to find out what her poems were really about, "I usually base them on people i knew within families I've been through"

"Been.. through?"

"A- Ah i shouldn't have said that straight away i'm sorry!" Kumiko profusely apologised to Yuurei, "I just like to write my poems on the people i knew within the families I've been through.. my father didn't really exist in my life and after my mother's passing i had no choice but to be put into the system"

"I see..i'm sorry Fujisawa.."

"I didn't stay long enough with my other families for them to be able to change my last name so it's still my given one.. d- don't get me wrong they we're nice it's just that they weren't.. exactly doing it for the children"

Yuurei remained quiet at this new info learnt.

"But there is a happy ending to this! The family i'm with now are really good and are doing it for the kids! They have two younger kids themselves.. twin brothers. Look i have a picture!"

Kumiko showed a picture of her and the two twins she was on about - they were completely identical to one another and smiling just the same. Kumiko looked the same as she did now in the picture but more happy - given that she wasn't in a killing game at that point in time. 

"They both mean the world to me and they love me as their older sister.. I just hope whatever this thing is we're put in i live to see the end of it for them"

"Maybe you could write about them..?"

Kumiko's eyes lit up at Yuurei's suggestion and immediately she grabbed her pencil and starting writing away in her notepad - the once blank pages filled up with writing quickly and in a matter of minutes the poem was finished. She handed it to the noirette with excited vigour and Yuurei began to read through the lines of the poem.

_Freedom seems scarce in this place we're in_

_Cameras watching our every move as we're taunted like the fox's prey_

_For as long as we're all in this place despair grows day by day_

_Until the curtains close on this game and we're free_

_Please say you'll both wait for me_

"F- Fujisawa this is amazing!" Yuurei exclaimed as he handed her back the notepad. The cerisette grinned at his response and smiled widely.

"Thank you! It means a lot!" She said, springing up to hug him and immediately tensing after realising she acted without thinking completely. Yuurei laughed a little, accepting the hug and returning it - it was rather comforting for such a stressful time. It lasted a minute before the two pulled away and Fujisawa grabbed her notepad.

"We should head to the cafeteria, Mame said we should head there soon.. perhaps now would be a good time?"

"Yeah! I'm pretty hungry anyway" Kumiko said, tucking her chair in and walking over to the door. Yuurei followed closely behind and noticed many of the other students had gathered the same idea to head to the cafeteria at the same time. 

* * *

"Eat up everyone" Kohi said, "It's just a meat onigiri- Maekawa helped me make them so i assure you that you can eat them safely. I have an alibi to say that they weren't poisoned"

"T- Thank you for reassuring us Mame-san.. however i'm sure most of us trust you already" Daichi said, pulling Patchwork closer to himself as he looked at the plate of food Takara put in front of him.

Once all the plates were handed out everyone said in unison.

"Thank you for the food!" 

Soon most began to eat their food rather quickly, faces lighting up at the genuine quality of what was made. Yuurei looked to the side and noticed Kenji playing with his food - he hadn't taken a single bite.

"Maeda? Are you not hungry?" He asked the green haired boy. Kenji seemed to snap out of some kind of daze once that was said to him and his head slowly turned away from Yuurei. He didn't speak up for a few seconds but then spoke in a quiet voice.

"I have a bad feeling about tonight.." His voice was more sterner but calmer than usual; a complete 180 to his usual loud and somewhat confident tone. Yuurei immediately knew to take him seriously, "I.. I don't know how to put it i just feel like something bad is going to happen"

 _'He's paranoid'_ Yuurei thought, budging closer to Kenji. Surprisingly, he didn't move away from the noirette - something was definitely wrong. He heard a sharp intake and outtake of a breath from the smaller boy and then saw him fold his arms onto the table and place his head into them with his food still remaining untouched. 

"Don't worry the food isn't poisoned. I was there when Mame made them"

"Why should i trust you?"

"I have no intent to kill anyone" Kenji looked up at him as Yuurei said that, the taller boy sliding the plate closer to him. Reluctantly, Kenji grabbed one of the onigiri and took a small bite. He was a fairly slow eater (probably due to how paranoid he felt) but the green haired managed to get through at least one rice ball before Hanae started speaking loudly to everyone.

"Everyone! Everyone!" She cheered, "Please allow me to entertain you for a bit! We don't have much to do and since not everyone is finished perhaps I can tell a story i know of?"

Students turned to look at each other and mutter for a few minutes before nodding collectively. Small patters could faintly be heard before a loud thump was heard behind everyone on an empty table. Monosune was sat down at a table with an apple between his paws - it had already had a bite taken out of it which came as a surprise to everyone.

"What??" He said, "I wanna know the story!"

Hanae sighed a little but continued on explaining about some fictitious creature she had read about one time. A large, hostile-natured titan creature who had the ability to distort electricity and destroy anything in its surroundings because of what the mass of its body was accumulated - vantablack. The colour itself absorbed about 99.965% of the light around it and for it to manifest as mass for a creatures body meant trouble. Hanae told the story of the titan which such excitement and passion it was hard to tear your focus away. Kenji on the other hand picked at the other rice ball he had left, trying to tune out Hanae's ramblings of a fictional beast.

"That's the story!" She said after a long, almost tiring explanation story of the titan.

"A- A creature completely made of vantablack? Is that even possible?" Daichi said, clearly invested in the story the radio hostess was telling.

"Well its fiction so who knows? But science is evolving quite fast!"

"Did the people manage to stop the beast?" Chinatsu asked, waving her hand in the air to gain Hanae's attention. 

"It wasn't specified since the titan is extremely hard to approach"

More questions came flying to Hanae about this supposed titan and clearly the girl was enjoying the attention over the story- even Monosune was invested in the story. Soon enough it was reaching around 5PM and many began to disperse to do their own things.

* * *

After making Kenji eat the remainder of his food, Yuurei got up and cleared their plates away. He placed them on the nearest counter with the rest of the student's place and made his way back out into the cafeteria. There were a few places he could go to however picking was a struggle - so the noirette decided to walk around until something peaked his interest.

He walked around the various hallways until he reached an open door- it was the drama classroom. Daichi was inside, muttering to himself as Patchwork was sat atop of his discarded scarf and poncho located on one of the desks. The blond was rooting through the storage closet at the back of the room, staring and analysing various props he found with almost innocent curiosity.

"What are you doing?" Yuurei piped up, startling Daichi in the progress. He visibly jumped, turning his head around fairly quickly and calming down a little when he realise who it was.

"O- Oh Maekawa-" He said, voice a bit jumpy, "I w- was just looking at what was in here.. this school has a lot of wigs for some reason"

The noirette walked over to the blond and stood by his side, looking down at the box of wigs Daichi had found present in the closet - they ranged in colour; from a short dark blue wig a slim strand of hair sticking out from the rest to a medium length blonde wig that had the same strand of hair like the dark blue wig. The mysterious boy reached over onto the shelf and passed Yuurei a part of one of the costumes he had found. They were small hair clips in the form of music notes.

"Perhaps this was a costume? or a cosplay stored here by one of the old students?" Yuurei questioned, Daichi shrugged and continued to dig through the closet until he found something else remotely of interest. He pulled a book down from the high shelf and blew on it to remove excess dust. It looked fairly new despite its sort of horrible condition. The blond looked through it, marvelling at what he saw.

"I- I found your answer about the wigs! Looks like they were old cosplays left by a student.. i- it says in this book that **they made a story based on real life events that took place** " Suddenly he picked up the blonde wig from before, "According to this book this wig is the character called **Kaede Akamatsu** "

He passed the book to Yuurei who took a quick glance of who exactly was mentioned. The girl was fairly medium in height and had a very musical motif to her- and to further inspection it seems that she was supposed to be the **Ultimate Pianist**. He continued to flip through the book more, looking at quite a few designs present - all thought out however some weren't very clear to the talents they were trying to portray. However Yuurei wasn't exactly one to talk- nothing he wore screamed 'I'm a Superstition Researcher' after all.

"They really thought about this hard huh..?" Daichi said to him

"Design wise i'm sure however i'm not too sure about the story yet"

"What do you mean Maekawa?"

Yuurei passed him the book, "Some things don't seem right regarding the other characters and their parts... however one part did stand out to me"

"What part?"

"It's a bit they wrote about the **Ultimate Talent Development Program**... it has the characters from this person's story however it says in the notes the others are based on real life people?"

Daichi raised his eyebrow, flicking through the pages until he landed on what Yuurei was talking about. There were several sketches of other people in this book too with their names scribbled under - some of the names shown were **Maizono** , **Komaeda** , **Koizumi** and **Fujisaki**. However there was one figure who's name was scribbled out harshly. Their sketch showed a person with long hair that was shaded in with the pencil used and a stern expression framed their face seemingly perfectly. Everything about this doodle of this.. person had this unnatural perfection to it.

"This one doesn't settle right with me..." Daichi showed the noirette the drawing of the long haired figure, "It feels... unnaturally perfect"

"I agree.. how strange"

The two talked for a little longer before Yuurei decided he wanted to check elsewhere. He thanked Daichi for letting him stay around and made his way out.

' _Daichi and I grew a little closer today_ ' He thought.

Yuurei decided he'd check out the gymnasium - he didn't figure there would be many people there and it was a chance to spend some time alone (at least he hoped) in a place that wasn't his room. The doors were already open upon his arrival and immediately he walked in. On the stage he noticed a small figure lying down on their stomach - brown wispy hair visible as their head swayed a little during whatever they were doing. Yuurei walked up onto the stage using the stairs at the side and sat in front of Riku. The smaller boy looked up, adjusting his glasses in the process.

"What are you doing?" Yuurei asked

"Just doodling stuff to get things off my mind" He responded, looking down at the papers underneath the boy. His gloved hand was holding a rather small pencil and doodling things away on the paper - small animals, small humans; generally anything the brunette could think of. Silently, he passed Yuurei a spare pencil and paper as if he knew what the noirette was about to asked. He muttered a small thank you and lied down across from Riku.

Yuurei doodled small plants that came to his mind which mostly were roses and sunflowers since they were the only two he properly knew how to draw. It was a comfortable silence between the two as they doodled on their respective papers and in a way it was like what Yuurei had hoped for even if there was someone there with him. He begin to shade in his rose sort of sloppily, however it was the most he could do since he wasn't quite an expert. He looked up at Riku's doodles and he had seemed to been drawing pictures of...ducks?

"Are those ducks?"

"Yeah" He said nonchalantly

"Why ducks?"

"I like ducks"

He couldn't argue with that even if what he was drawing could be considered a work in progress of a cursed image.

"Whatcha dooooing?" A singsong but familiar voice said. Monosune waddled over to the two boys, plonking himself down next to them and looking at the copious amount of ducks drawn by Riku. He then looked at Yuurei's paper, "The difference in what you're drawing really does surprise me"

"What do you want" Riku said, not taking his eyes off his paper. The fox took a spare piece of paper and one of the stray pencils from near Riku and flopped onto the floor, somehow holding the pencil with his paw and creating extremely childlike doodles - so perhaps **Monosune must've only been a few years old in bot years**? 

"How old are you exactly Monosune?"

"How old am i? hmmmmmmm" The plush put his free paw against his chin, "I dunno i think about **six- maybe seven years** i've been around?? I'm programmed to be about in my late twenties though""

Yuurei stood corrected against his statement, "S- Seven??"

"What? Do i look impressionable and young for my age?"

"I don't think anyone can tell your age" Riku said

"Fair enough!" He laughed, continuing his childish doodle. Yuurei looked at it. From what he could tell it looked like a human with dark hair and a small scar over their right eye - the hair was tied back into a ponytail as well. Nothing else could exactly be made out about the drawing to the noirette.

"Who's that? Is it you as a human?"

"Naahh it's my creator!"

"T- The mastermind?"

"No **the mastermind has nothing to do with my creator** \- he's too much of a goody two shoes"

"eh?"

" **Mori** was his name" 

"I see.."

The three continued to doodle in peace for a bit- Yuurei was fairly surprised Monosune was able to stay quiet for that long. Eventually Monosune left alongside his drawing so he could do the nighttime announcement.

' _Riku and I got a bit closer today.. kind of?_ ' He thought.

* * *

_Bing Bong Bing Bong!_

"Attention everyone! It's now 10PM so that means we've entered nighttime! Probably should lock your doors unless you wanna get killed nyahah!"

Kenji sighed, walking down the hall to where the dorms were kept. Some of the students were stood outside in a group - Chiyo, Kumiko, Naoki, Daichi, Kohi and of course, Yuurei. 

"What are you all up for didn't you hear the announcement?"

"Most of us were going to stay up for a bit longer.. you can join us if you want to, Maeda?" Chiyo said, smiling sweetly.

"Ah i was just going to go into my dorm.. i was waiting for you" Yuurei said, rubbing his eye. He was clearly quite tired as his eyes were threatening to close further with every blink.

"I'll stay with Maekawa.. you guys do whatever" Kenji said, waiting for the others to clear up. Yuurei opened the door to his room and stepped in as soon as the others finally dispersed. Kenji stepped in after him- It wasn't that different than his apart from the fact it had a couch and a bit more colour to it than his. Noticeably he had a few banners hanging from his walls with intricate patterns on them, "There's.. a lot of colour in this room"

"I happen to like purple a lot" Yuurei laughed.

"But it's so...dull??"

"The shades around are quite vibrant actually-- wait.... hold on. Maeda, what colour is your hair?"

Kenji turned to look at the mirror.

"Uh.." He spoke with hesitation "Green..?"

Yuurei paused, realisation sinking in fairly fast.

"M..Maeda... are you colourblind?"

"What"

The noirette paused for a second, shrugging off his blazer and taking off his jumper. Kenji walked over to the couch, letting his hoodie fall from his shoulders as he un-clipped the gas mask from around his neck alongside the other accessories he wore. They were placed on Yuurei's desk for the time being. The taller boy took off his shoes and placed them to the side, walking over to Kenji and sitting down besides him.

"I think you may be colourblind Maeda"

"I mean i've always had a hard time seeing yellow and shit- so i guess?"

"Ah- that's tritanopia. You're blue-yellow colourblind"

"....great"

Yuurei got up from the sofa as Kenji began to stretch out, sprawling out onto the couch. The noirette quickly locked the door and went over to his bed, grabbing the blanket neatly folded at the end and tossed it to Kenji. He mumbled a thank you and opened up the blanket, grabbing one of the cushions from the side and putting his head onto it. Yuurei quickly untied his tie, turned off the light and climbed into bed. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

* * *

**_Hey hey! God- finally it took you long enough! Jeez you're such a slowpoke!_ **

**_Oh what? Are you trying to figure out who is talking to you?? Did you not pay attention to my character at all through this story so far?_ **

**_It's me! The fox you all absoluuuuuutely adore!! Well- i'm aware I look a bit different between these dream sequences but hey whatever it's a dream i can do what i want_ **

**__ **

**_Doesn't my human self look amazing? I actually look my age for once...... but anyway it's almost the end of this part of chapter 1!_ **

**_That's right! You've made it almost to the end of the start of the killing game! I wonder who's gonna end up dying.... oh why am i saying this i already know!_ **

**_This right now is called a 'dream sequence' . Usually they'll happen right before the body discovery so you have some time to mentally prepare yourself for some devastating despair to riddle your brains nyahah! These also happen during trial interludes but under a different name- take these little segments as a little one-on-one with your favourite monobot!_ **

**_Anyway that's all the time i have left for this segment. Gotta go do some announcements nyaha!_ **

* * *

_Bing bong bing bong!_

__

"Waaaaakey wakey! It's 7AM and a brand new day of this despairing killing game! Good luccck~"

Yuurei groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes to shield his eyes from the lights in his room suddenly turning on. Kenji was still asleep on the couch, compact and snug in the blanket instead of completely sprawled out like the beginning of last night. The noirette began to dress himself, grabbing his blazer and tie and walking into his bathroom to do what ever else he needed to. Kenji woke up not so long later, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Maekawa where are you?" He said, voice still rough from just waking up.

"I- In the bathroom!"

The green haired boy sighed, unravelling from the blanket and swinging his legs onto the floor. He stood up, walking over to Yuurei's desk and grabbing his things from the side- by that time the taller boy had left the bathroom and greeted Kenji.

"Good morning Maeda- do you feel better this morning?"

He shrugged at Yuurei's question, "Monosune didn't say where to meet.. i guess we go wherever then?"

"Perhaps we go to the cafeteria? It seems like the most logical place to meet"

"Why not the gymnasium"

"I doubt anyone really wants to go in there for another assembly because of our first day"

Kenji separated his hoodie from the blanket and put it on, grabbing his gas-mask from the side as he continued the conversation, "I guess so..."

The noirette gave Kenji some time to get ready before they made their way to the cafeteria together. After getting dressed in record time, he quickly sorted himself out in the bathroom and the two walked out of the dorm room. Chinatsu walked out of her dorm room at the same time as the duo, she smiled happily at the other two and Yuurei smiled back.

"Morning!" She chirped, walking besides the two boys. The taller boy made conversation with the magical girl on the way to the cafeteria- mostly small things about what they could explore in the building and whatever else they could strike up. Kenji looked ahead, noticing more students gathering in the hallways and in the direction of the cafeteria. It wasn't long before they made it to said place.

"Good morning everyone! By any chance has anyone seen Shirai? He seems to be missing.. could someone go check the dorms?" Kohi said as they walked into the room. Yuri raised her hand from the back of the room and Kohi gave her permission to go check. Everyone glanced at each other back and forth asking eachother if they had seen the florist at all. 

As everyone was discussing where Naoki could be, a horrified scream could be heard from the kitchen. It alerted both Kenji and Riku and both boys rushed into the kitchen. Kohi was covering their mouth, looking like he was about to be sick. Kenji felt his blood go cold. Riku stood there in silence. Before anyone could think about it, the worst had already come into play.

Naoki Shirai was found dead on the third day of the killing game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering, the beast Hanae described was a Trevor Henderson creature called "Breaking News". I re-watched a video on the creature recently and figured Hanae would love talking about those kind of things so I added it in.  
> *****  
> [ ] Yuurei Maekawa - SHSL Superstition Researcher  
> [ ] Kenji Maeda - SHSL Graffiti Artist  
> [ ] Kumiko Fujisawa - SHSL Poet  
> [ ] Daichi Saitou - SHSL ???  
> [✘] Naoki Shirai - SHSL Florist  
> [ ] Hanae Tamaki - SHSL Radio Hostess  
> [ ] Rin Maki - SHSL Pyrotechnist  
> [ ] Rikori Seiki - SHSL Paintballer  
> [ ] Chiyo Ueda - SHSL Spirit Medium  
> [ ] Riku Hamasaki - SHSL Hacker  
> [ ] Takara Konada - SHSL Waitress  
> [ ] Katashi Ishikawa - SHSL Dancer  
> [✘] Kohaku Hisakawa - SHSL Theorist  
> [ ] Kohi Mame - SHSL Barista  
> [ ] Chinatsu Ogawa - SHSL Magical Girl  
> [ ] Yuri Tsnoda - SHSL Bassist


	3. Chapter 1 | Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoki Shirai has been killed! The other students investigate for clues for the oncoming class trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im not the most consistent with the floorplan but i'm trying my best okay

We all stood in horror at what was in front of us. Kohi was backed up on the floor shaking at the sight in front of them - a complete opposite to what the other person in the room reacted like. Riku was deadly silent, eyes concentrated on the body as his eyes widened in fear. The despair washing over him wasn't noticeably obvious at first, but with more attention to detail, it was noticeable. I felt horrible for both of them but tried to remain strong, for everyone's sake at this point.

None of knew Shirai that well at all during this time and before we all knew it he was found dead in the kitchen by some.. ** _murderer_** in here with a sick sense of humour. A loud, static cackle emitted from the monitor above the body, Monosune's grin ever-present on his never changing face. He looked down at all of the students gathered around the florist's body before putting his head in his paws in his usual announcement fashion.

_Nyahahah!_

"It's the moment you've all been waiting for! A body has beeeeeen discovered!"

His laugh roared as he finished his sing-song murder announcement. I wanted to puke but at the same time I wanted to find wherever this fox was and tear him to shreds. Why couldn't we do that? One of us was killed by him in the blink of an eye.. was his entire purpose of sacrificing someone to distil fear in us all? 

"Now! After a short while a trial will commence so you can all get some justice! Don't worry i'll explain the rules in the courtroom"

The monitor switched off after that. Everyone was silent... too silent. Someone among us was a murderer who killed someone innocent with cold blood just for their own selfish desire to escape this place. I felt myself grow angry, fists balling at the thought.

"Kenji" Riku said, putting a hand on my shoulder, "We have to concentrate okay..?"

I sighed, turning away from the monitor and to look at Riku, his gloved hand on my shoulder. His hand was weirdly heavy on my shoulder despite the brunette being small and rather frail in stature. I brushed it off and turned to the others behind us. Rin had helped Kohi off the floor and was consoling them after breaking out into sudden panic. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Yuurei looked around at his fellow students' faces. Everyone was just as confused as eachother- no-one in here had done an investigation for a murder before. The only one everyone knew in the back of their minds would be somewhat legible for this would be **Hisakawa**.. but he died soon in the first day. The noirette sighed. What could anyone even start on? Yuurei could see from the doorway that Kenji, Riku and Yuri were already working on the crime scene.

"Maekawa! Good timing!" Hanae said, walking over to the researcher. He waved a little but didn't do much else, "Could you help me investigate with Seiki? A little bird told me you're good at reading people- we'll need you for interrogations"

"A.. little bird?" He said, following the girl towards where Rikori was stood. She was sat at one of the cafeteria tables, face dawning her usual emotionless stare as Yuurei and Hanae approached her. A small hum left her as they approached.

"Right team! We should look in the surrounding area if people are already investigating the murder scene.. perhaps we should do the interrogations first?" Hanae said, looking between the two before her.

"Do you know who was up?" Rikori said

"Ah- as a fact I do! **Ueda** , **Saitou** , **Fujisawa** , **Mame** and well... Shirai" Yuurei said, voice growing more quiet at the mention of the just murdered. Rikori looked down at her lap for a few minutes as she thought about what everyone already knew. Then suddenly, the paintballer stood and started making her way over to Chiyo who was talking with Takara. She stopped the conversation with the waitress as Rikori approached her, Yuurei and Hanae following quickly behind.

"Seiki? Would you like to ask me something?" The spirit medium said, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her. Rikori stared at her for a second longer before speaking.

"You were up past the night time announcement.. what were you doing?" She asked the taller girl. Chiyo paused as she tried to gather her thoughts together. Yuurei hadn't seen much of Rikori around the school so far, however this is the most confident he had seen her since their introductions in the gymnasium a few days ago. A few days ago. When they were still alive..

"Oh of course! **I was with Saitou** most of the time, **we were both cleaning up in the gymnasium until roughly 11pm**. We put the mops back in the storage closet **and saw someone approaching our direction, however.. it was dark so i wasn't able to tell who it was..** so it may be best to either talk to Mame or Saitou next since Saitou can be my alibi and Mame is the one who knows where everything is! Is.. there anything else?"

"Where is the storage closet?" Yuurei asked, Chiyo looked over at him and smiled.

"It's near the cafeteria, however **you'll need to ask Monosune for the key**.. that's if he has it. **I gave the key to the person** once they approached us"

"We should go there next! We could find some shocking evidence there!" Hanae exclaimed, shaking Yuurei slightly. It was almost disturbing how excited and eager she was to see this all unfold- the noirette didn't expect anything less ecstatic from the radio hostess.

**_Chiyo's Account added to Truth Bullets_ **

* * *

Hanae quickly began walking down the halls towards the storage closet, Rikori following behind her besides Yuurei. The evidence currently lead them nowhere however there was a lot more to uncover - especially with how spacious this entire floor was. Monosune was stood by the door as the trio approached, swinging the key in his paw as he assumedly already opened the door for investigation. The alpine haired quickly rushed into the closet, pushing past Monosune and flicking on the light.

Alongside the recording equipment for the announcements stashed in a corner - there was a window bolted down with seemingly heavy durance glass for a bit of light that looked out into a greenhouse looking area. A bucket was located behind some boxes stacked near one of the shelves, the mop handles giving away the location. Yuurei walked over, carefully moving past Hanae and looked into the bucket. **The water was bloody** and as Yuurei lifted up the mops one by one, **only one mop seemed to be coated the heaviest with blood**. Monosune jumped onto Yuurei's shoulder and peered over.

"Bloody water eh?" He said, still swinging the key.

"The key to get into here belongs to you, you gave it to Ueda and Saitou, right?" Yuurei said, looking at the fox on his shoulder.

"Sure did! I didn't catch them giving it back though... said someone else wanted to use the closet and gave the key to them. **I found the key left in the door** "  


**_Closet added to Truth Bullets_ **

"Such rich information! I feel like we should all pay Saitou a visit, no?" Hanae chirped, walking back out of the closet and ready to walk off to the next destination. 

"Hold on." Rikori said, "Didn't Ueda say the place was dark?"

"aaaah that........." Monosune said, twiddling his paws together, "I forgot to tell you all **I turn the lights off after the night time announcement**!- electricity ain't cheap y'know!"

"So we can confirm Ueda was telling the truth about having no idea who this person is who took the mop.. presumably cleaning up the crime scene with it. **There was a blackout** " Yuurei said, tying the pieces together, "That means we should move onto interrogating someone like Saitou to see if their testimonies line up first.. then we move to Mame and Fujisawa"

"Does that mean the blackout can be used as evidence?" The paintballer said, looking over at Monosune.

"What are ya looking at me for??? I don't know!" He squeaked, stomping off in a huff.

**__ **

**_Blackout added to Truth Bullets_ **

* * *

"Can either of you tell anything about these wounds?" Kenji asked. "Oi- Maeda! Are you done analysing the body yet?" Yuri said, walking over to him. Her heels made audible footsteps as she approached the boy inspecting the corpse of their classmate. Kenji was silent, carefully moving the body around like he was trying to respect Naoki even after death. It was a horrific sight up close. His eyes were still open and lifeless, staring into nothing as the green haired boy checked his body for what could've been classed as the murder weapon.

"The sink is fairly bloody.. do you think the murderer tried to clean up the evidence?" Riku said, leaning over the sink and inspecting it. It's usual metallic colour was **stained slightly** , bearing **a more blood-like tint** instead of it's classic silver. Kenji hummed in agreement.

" **The floor is damp too** , and not from blood either. There's no puddles underneath the body despite how.. deep the wounds seem"

"Lemme look" Yuri said, kneeling down next to Kenji and turning Naoki's body onto his back. She cringed a little, hesitantly moving her hand down his thigh where deep gashes were placed, the blood laying atop his clothing dripping onto the floor, "These are **deep enough for him to not be able to move**.... guessin' by how the other batch is on his lower leg **he already collapsed when they were made**. Huh.. so horror movies did come in handy"

"You're using horror movie logic to justify this?" Riku said, turning around to join them.

"Hey i'm not a professional! It's the closest we'll get kay?"

"Both of you shut it. Tsnoda you hold a point, whether you like it or not Hamasaki, it _is_ the closest we'll get in the situation"

The smaller brunette sighed, leaning down and analysing the cuts on Naoki's legs.

"The cuts are **sharp and thin**.. something like **a sharp knife could've done this kind of job**. Is there any in the kitchen supplies?"

Yuri got up and looked around the place, inspecting the various cupboards and racks in the kitchen before drawing a knife from the knife block, " **The handle is slightly wet**... this must be the one then!"

"More evidence the crime scene had tried to be cleaned up"

**_Cleaned up crime scene added to Truth Bullets_ **

Riku narrowed his eyes as he looked at the wounds again, got up and took the knife off of Yuri. The smaller brunette proceeded to poke the knife back into one of the cuts in Naoki's legs, pulling it out after a few seconds to then measure how deep the cut must be. 

"I'd say roughly **it's about a quarter of an inch**.. going on the information on that it's deep enough to stop him from walking.. and also just by how much I could get the knife into it" He said, repeating the process on the stab wounds at the side of his body, "However these ones are deeper.. clearly meant to be the ones to actually kill him.. **roughly three inches** I think..?"

"So that means we can say he died from being stabbed on the side right?" 

Riku nodded, standing up and stepping away from the body.

"Is that all there is to do here?" Kenji said, taking the knife from off the floor and putting it on the counter. Monosune waddled in shortly after, giggling slightly as he saw the trio gathered around the body. The green haired boy scowled at the laughter of the plush, glaring daggers at him.

"Nyahah! What have we got here?" He said, "Finished lookin yet?"

"What is it to you?" Riku asked

"Ehhh... nothin really! But have you ever thought about **why** the culprit must've done it?"

"He's gotta point... sadly" Yuri sighed, "We figured out how for the most part but not why" 

"We leave that to Maekawa" Kenji said, "He'll manage to find some loophole knowing how his observation works" 

"How are you so sure of that, eh??"

"Never play with him"

**_Autopsy added to Truth Bullets_ **

* * *

Yuurei made his way across to the cafeteria again, Hanae and Rikori following steadily behind. Kohi was currently sat at a table with Chinatsu by their side - the sheer horror of finding a classmate's corpse on the floor overwhelming them. She looked up as the trio made there way over to a shaking Kohi. Yuurei felt a twinge of sympathy at the state the barista was in.

"Can you help us? We need to get more evidence of the people up last night.. Mame was one of them but I don't think they're.. able to speak like this" Yuurei said, taking a seat across from the two. Chinatsu nodded, her arm round the student as they violently shook from an amalgam of fear and shock, "Have they told you anything?"

"From what I've been told **around five were up that night to clean**.. Ko was one of them and was tasked with cleaning the cafeteria- Shirai offered to help clean the kitchen. Kohi was on the brink of passing out from exhaustion so Shirai was the one to convince them to put away their mop and go to their dorm. So they did and gave their mop to Shirai.. however **someone went up to Kohi on the way back to the dorms** to ask where the mops were.. **they were too tired so they couldn't tell who it was**.. however **the voice was fairly higher in pitch and slightly matched the vocal range of Ko** themselves.. they went to their dorm after the person asked for the mop" 

As Chinatsu explained, Yuurei nodded along, listening closely to any sign of a lie or contradiction whilst Hanae furiously scribbled down what the magical girl was saying on a piece of paper she kept in her skirt pocket. Rikori silently listened along with the noirette.

" **Ko was with Fujisawa for a part of the night**.. I've already asked her and **she didn't encounter Saitou or Ueda**. She did encounter Shirai briefly when helping Kohi clean up but it was only brief. **She left quite early** to go back to her room" 

"Thank you Ogawa! This should help us!" 

**_Kohi's Account added to Truth Bullets_ **

"We should go to Saitou next. That way we can see if Ueda's alibi is correct" Rikori said, standing back up and beginning to walk out of the cafeteria. The other two followed, Hanae thanking the other two and stuffing the paper into her skirt pocket. The paintballer quickly made her way down the hallways, making a sharp turn into one of the classrooms. Kumiko and Daichi were in the classroom together, the blond hugging his plush tightly in a way to calm himself down. 

"M- Maekawa!" Kumiko said, "Did you find any clues?"

"We have yes.. however we're here to talk to the both of you" 

"T-..Talk?" Daichi said, his face growing more pale by the second. Yuurei put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to reassure him he was okay.

"The night before. What were you two doing?" 

" **I- I was with Ueda**.." Daichi began, "We were cleaning up for a bit and went to put our mops away.. we saw someone approach us.. **I couldn't tell who it was.. it was too dark** "

"What about the key?" Hanae said, scribbling down what the blond was saying.

"K- Key? **I.. don't know anything about a key**..."

The radio hostess sighed a little, scratching her head. The first contradiction in the case.

**_Daichi's Account added to Truth Bullets_ **

"They match up for the most part.. so we can assume for the most part they're both innocent.. but we can't be too sure" Yuurei said, then turning to Kumiko, "How about you Fujisawa?"

"Me? O- Oh! **I was with Mame** for a bit but then I got tired.. I went back to my room. **I was in the cafeteria with Mame** **and saw Shirai in the kitchen a few times** " 

"It was dark, no?" 

"Y- Yeah it was... **I could tell it was Shirai in the kitchen** though! His voice and height is really easy to recognise!"

**__ **

**_Kumiko's Account added to Truth Bullets_ **

Yuurei hummed in acknowledgement, looking over at the radio hostess who finished writing down the last confession on paper. The investigating trio left after and made their way back to the canteen - Rikori walked ahead whilst Hanae stalled back to talk to the noirette. She looked serious and Yuurei was slightly nervous to what she was thinking.

"I don't trust Saitou not one bit"

"Why not?" The researcher asked confused.

"The key thing doesn't make sense.. he was with Ueda.. surely he would've heard about the key right?"

"You have a fair point.. but again Saitou's nervousness could possibly make him forget under pressure?"

"You _really_ believe him??"

"I'm just stating a theory, Tamaki"

Yuurei sighed and walked ahead, leaving the radio hostess behind as she grumbled under her breath, clearly not happy about Yuurei's judgement. As he got closer to the cafeteria, something was gnawing at him, almost like he'd forgotten something. It was a strange feeling which he couldn't simply shrug off like he wanted. Was it how short their testimonies were? The noirette didn't know.

Kenji, Yuri and Riku walked out of the kitchen just as Yuurei walked into the cafeteria. Yuri was the first one to speak up.

"S'wrong with you? You look like you're about to kill someone with those eyes!"

"N- Nothing! Just.. thinking" He laughed nervously, "Anyway! Could you tell us what you found out about the body?"

"Stabbed on the side, Cut on the thigh and lower leg, Most of the crime scene was cleaned" Riku said, raising a finger every time he mentioned a new piece of evidence, "We suspect the weapon was one of the knives in the kitchen- it had a wet handle according to Tsnoda."

"Yeah!" She said, "We also think the guy got cut on the legs first... he must've not been able to move cause of them.. and knowing his height **it was probably needed** "

Yuurei nodded, the gnawing feeling still not going away within him. Still something bugged him.. a small clue he must've overlooked. Hanae came in, calmed down from her mini tantrum, and proceeded to explain to the others about the testimonies and the closet. As he listened, Kenji kept glancing at Yuurei who looked visibly distressed. He took a few steps forward, opening his mouth before being cut off by the loud static and chime of the monitors.

_Bing Bong Bing Bong!_

"It's the time you've all been waiting for! Trial time! Please make your way to the gymnasium and i'll explain the rules in the courtroom! Nyahah!"

Everyone silently looked at each other before exchanging a nod, students making their way to the gymnasium with a sick feeling in their stomachs. Justice was going to be served, but why did they feel so nervous? Of course.. It's Monosune. Somehow they all just knew he'd pull a sick, twisted turn on them during the trial - watching as they debate for their lives. Soon, everyone remaining was in the gymnasium.

The wall at the back of the stage opened up like hidden doors, revealing a hallway breaching out into the darkness. Everyone looked at each other, trembling as students blindly stepped forth into the darkness. Yuurei and Kenji stayed behind as the rest continued forth. The looming despair making itself finally present.

It's like the world stopped for a minute.

"It's.. finally time" The noirette said, smiling nervously. 

"..yeah.."

The two looked at each other once more before taking their steps forward into the darkness.

"See you on the other side.."

"May the innocent make it out alive.."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ ] Yuurei Maekawa - SHSL Superstition Researcher  
> [ ] Kenji Maeda - SHSL Graffiti Artist  
> [ ] Kumiko Fujisawa - SHSL Poet  
> [ ] Daichi Saitou - SHSL ???  
> [✘] Naoki Shirai - SHSL Florist  
> [ ] Hanae Tamaki - SHSL Radio Hostess  
> [ ] Rin Maki - SHSL Pyrotechnist  
> [ ] Rikori Seiki - SHSL Paintballer  
> [ ] Chiyo Ueda - SHSL Spirit Medium  
> [ ] Riku Hamasaki - SHSL Hacker  
> [ ] Takara Konada - SHSL Waitress  
> [ ] Katashi Ishikawa - SHSL Dancer  
> [✘] Kohaku Hisakawa - SHSL Theorist  
> [ ] Kohi Mame - SHSL Barista  
> [ ] Chinatsu Ogawa - SHSL Magical Girl  
> [ ] Yuri Tsnoda - SHSL Bassist


	4. Chapter 1 | Trial!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trial has commenced! Who will be found guilty at the end of it all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trial time! Fuck man this was long awaited. Please don't kill me for who I chose as the blackened

Everyone slowly emerged from the other side of the dark hall. On the other side was a trial room that was just a little bigger than the gymnasium itself - a circle of stands set almost perfectly in the middle and at two stood portraits of the two recently deceased students of the group. Yuurei felt a small shiver crawl down his back at the sight of that twisted display. Monosune was climbing up onto what looked like to be a podium looking down at the trial circle, plopping down on the wood and beginning to explain what to do.

"Alllrighty! Now then- your names should be assigned to a stand! Find yours and I'll continue the rest of the rules!"  
  
Yuurei swallowed thickly, moving to take his place at his stand. Next to him was Takara on his left and Chinatsu on his right; across from him was Kenji who had Yuri and Rikori stood next to him in their respective stands. The silence deafened everyone until Monosune's next explanation echoed throughout the trial room.

"Right! Now lemme explain the rules! You will all be put against each other trying to find out the culprit of this murder! Using the evidence you all got as a group to come to a conclusion and vote out the guilty!" He said, "But but but!- There's a juicy twist!"

Yuurei held Kenji let out an exhausted yet angry sigh at those words and put a hand over his mouth to stop a small laugh.

"If you guess the murderer right you all get out of here and the murderer gets punished! But if you guess wrong the murderer gets to go out and you guys get punished! Nyahaha! It's their life or yours!"

"..o..our lives..?" Daichi said, clutching Patchwork tightly. The colour drained from the boy's face at those words, "Y- You're all putting us against each other at the risk of our own lives?!"

"Well duh! Have you not been listening blondie?"

Takara's expression turned to worry as she saw Daichi's induced panic, a small mutter of 'poor thing..' under her breath as she looked at him with sympathy.

"Well.. if that's how it's going to be then we should discuss the actual body first" Yuurei said, "Maeda, you investigated the body right?"  
  
"With Tsnoda and Hamasaki yeah. Hamasaki did most of the work since he knew what to do"

Yuurei looked over to said boy. The brunette adjusted his glasses, pushing them back up his nose began to explain, "There were three main wound places: the side, the thigh and lower leg. Both of the cuts on his leg measure about a quarter of an inch deep compared to the ones on the side which are three inches."

"So the one on his side was the one meant to kill him?" Katashi said, pulling the hoodie around him closer.

"Definitely. The ones on the legs must've been to stop him from moving due to his height and assumed strength by the killer. It must've been the first attack to be delivered"

"W- Why would the killer need to do that??" Chinatsu said, "The ones on the side were the ones to kill him right..?"

"Well-"

**_"Stop right there!"_ **  


_'Already??'_ Yuurei thought as Hanae grinned. She pulled out the piece of paper with the evidence she wrote down and stared down Riku with almost too confident valour. 

"You said the cuts on the legs was the first to happen right? Wrong! **Shirai could've easily seen the killer coming!** "

The radio hostess held a fair point however something didn't feel right about her point. Yuurei mentally recapped the evidence they had all gathered and tried to piece together what could prove Riku's point or even go against his. The researcher knew Hanae didn't get all the evidence down as she was too distracted by Monosune's radio equipment when he was telling him and his group about something.. but what was it?

"I was about to explain myself you idiot!" Riku barked, "For _once_ can you not jump to conclusions?!"

"Yeah right! How would you know the leg cuts were first unless you did the murder yourself! Killer!"

_That's it!_

_**"Hold it that's wrong!"** _

"Tamaki you were distracted when Monosune was explaining a crucial piece of evidence that validates Hamasaki's point! He was explaining how **after the night time announcement a blackout happens** "

Hanae stood stunned, cheeks turning a shade of pink at the realisation Yuurei had presented, "H- He did??"

"Yes! You were too busy looking at his radio equipment connected to the monitors to care about writing that bit of evidence down!"

"..Ah.. I see.. I.. suppose I was wrong" She said, "But that doesn't explain how he's sure about how the leg cuts were first!"

"I was going to say that they would be first so it would be easier to attack him in the dark. If he was on the floor from being disabled from the cuts then it would've been easier to kill him with the stabs to the sides" Riku sighed, "He was the tallest of all of us"

"A- Actually.. I have a question!" Takara said, raising her hand, " 'Saki you said he died from the stab wounds right?"

"Yeah?"

"Then.. the blood.. where is it? I know it was cleaned up but how?"

"You.. have a good point. I was strictly with Maeda and Tsnoda so I don't know how exactly it could've been cleaned up other than the floor was slightly damp"

"Oh! Oh! I know!!" Rin said waving her hands in the air, "Rikori told me!!"

"Seiki.. you investigated with Maekawa and Tamaki right?" Kumiko said, "Did you find anything?"

The paintballer nodded, crossing her arms, "Bucket"

...

"B-..Bucket?" Everyone collectively went.

"There was a bucket with bloody water in the storage closet where Monosune keeps his radio equipment!!" Rin said, "Three mops were in there but one was more heavily stained!"

"So the place was cleaned up with a mop and bucket.. hey, weren't some of you cleaning up after the night time announcement?" Kenji said, "I know for a fact Ueda and Mame were but I dunno about the others. Those up gotta be the most fucking suspicious"

"I was cleaning with Saitou" Chiyo said, "From my knowledge Fujisawa was with Mame and Shirai for a short period of time before leaving to the dorms"

"So Mame would be the one most closest to Shirai at the time of the murder, hypothetically speaking"

Everyone looked over at said student and in return a look of disappointment was shone back, "Y- You really think I'm _capable_ of murder???" The level of affront in their voice was strong, ice blue eyes standing their ground.

"You are the most likely after all.."

Kohi sighed, "Listen. I'll tell you my side of this. During the night I was cleaning up with Shirai and Fujisawa was there to keep us company. Fujisawa left early to go back to the dorms and I was left with Shirai on the brink of exhaustion. He told me to go put my mop away and go to my dorm since I was almost about to collapse at one point. I did and as I was putting the mop away someone came up to me.. couldn't tell who it was but they had a voice similar to mine..? Unless I was too sleep deprived and processed the voice wrong"

Yuurei spoke up after Kohi had finished speaking, "Ueda.. can you tell us your testimony?"

"Of course! I was with Saitou in the gymnasium until roughly 11pm. Someone was approaching our direction and I had given them the key to the storage closet once they came over. Mame was right, the voice was similar to theirs"

So the killer had arrived at the gymnasium around 11pm and asked for the key to the storage room. The noirette thought for a minute.

"The key, Monosune gave it you right?"

"Indeed!" The spirit medium said, "He gave it to me out of everyone in the group"

"That's when he told us 'bout the blackout right?" Fujisawa said to Chiyo

"Yes- yes! He did! The killer has to be in the group of us then.. **they wouldn't plan something so risky if they didn't know about the blackout** "

**_"I agree with that!"_ **

"Ueda is right! The killer must have been up past the night time announcement because they must've knowledge of the blackout. They wouldn't plan something so risky especially with five people up if they weren't already in the group!" Yuurei said confidently, "Did anyone spend any time during the day with anyone up? I was with Saitou and Fujisawa for a part of it"

"I was with Fujisawa for a bit" Kenji said

"M- Me too!" Takara replied, "I was with Chiyo as well"

Chiyo nodded to Takara and Fujisawa agreed to both the waitress and Kenji. Yuurei stood still for a minute, recapping things around his head until something hit him.

"Saitou.. you said you didn't know of a key, right? You were there when it was given to the group so why don't you remember? Ueda has several alibis to confirm about the key"

"I- I- uh.. I'm sorry.. my memory.."

"Your memory?"

"I..I forget a lot when I get nervous.."

**_"Hold it!"_ **

"You're expecting us to _believe_ that white lie?" Riku said, adjusting his glasses, "You can't conveniently forget something for your own gain, Saitou"

"I- I'm not lying!" The blond shook as he tried to fight back against the brunette. 

"Prove it!"

Daichi stood silently and shaking, nothing forming when he tried to speak. It made him look more guilty by the second.

"For.. the record it is.. plausible" Yuurei said, "Riku has a point, You can't conveniently forget something like this."

"It makes sense!!" Rin said, "Saitou's voice isn't that deep either.. at least mid range! He could easily mimic someone else's voice! He could've sneaked off during the blackout when Chiyo wasn't around the entry to the gymnasium" 

Muttering arose around the trial room and one by one, eyes turned to look at Daichi. He was silent, hugging Patchwork tightly as he shook in pure fear. 

"Confess Saitou, you did it. Didn't you?"

"I- I didn't! Please I'm innocent!"

**_"He's innocent. Leave him alone!"_ **

* * *

_I know Saitou is innocent. They've all turned against him from one accusation made by Hamasaki. There's something they're all missing._

"Saitou forgetting about the key is right! If you just found out one your friends is dead wouldn't you be in fuckin' shock too?! Besides, disregarding the key, his reasoning wouldn't add up to the motive"

"M- Motive???" Chinatsu said, "What motive??"

_They all seriously forgot?_

"You're all fucking idiots. Every. Single. One of you." Kenji growled, " **The rules to this game is a fucking motive**. Murder someone and we're out. **We get to see family again** "

"How can you assume that he doesn't fall in line with the motive?" Riku said, crossing his arms.

"I have evidence pointing to someone else"

"Who?? I wanna know!" Yuri said

"Care to explain yourself, **Kumiko Fujisawa**?"

The cerisette stood still, in shock of such an accusation thrown towards her. Everyone else was too, looking at Kenji like he was mad for defending Daichi. Said boy looked relieved someone came to his aid.

"M- Me??"

It all makes sense now...

"Did I fucking stutter?" Kenji said. His voice had gone colder and his tone grew more serious.. the students around him stayed silent, "Adding up the evidence it makes sense"

"Then explain it!" Yuurei said, "How is she guilty, Maeda?"

"..of all the people of course _you_ would ask me that Maekawa. I thought you would've seen through it but no.. you hide behind trust. Trust in life or death situations won't get you anywhere if you cower behind it."

"..are you calling me a coward?"

"I might as well be" The artist sighed, "The evidence linking the killer to the motive is in the hands of Fujisawa. The picture of her family. She showed me when I spent time with her and it's clear from how she talked about them they're fairly close"

Yuurei froze, "T..The picture.. The picture of the twins..?" He looked mortified. 

**_"I agree with that"_ **

" **The picture of the twins links her to the family motive**.. not only that but how she's conveniently in the group up past the night time announcement and even leaving Mame when cleaning during a blackout where no-one could see her"

Yuurei was still, almost like he was refusing to believe Kumiko could be the murder of Naoki Shirai. 

"..then can you break down how you think the murder was committed?"

"I can"

The trial room was silent as everyone gave Kenji room to start explaining.

"After the night time announcement, Kumiko went with Mame and Shirai to stay with them in the cafeteria and Saitou with Ueda to clean in the gymnasium. **She knew about the blackout as Monosune told them collectively as a group that it would happen**. Kumiko left after spending a decent amount of time with both students and **faked going back to her room** , hiding until it was nearing 11pm and **disguising her voice**. She went up to a tired Mame and asked them where the brooms were kept and they replied the storage closet. Fujisawa went to Ueda to get the key encase it was locked **around 11pm**. Once she knew **she had something to clean up her crime** with, she went into the pitch black kitchen and grabbed one of the knives from the side, sneaking up behind Shirai and **cutting his legs to disable him. He's much taller than her so it would be needed so he couldn't overpower her**."

Kumiko grew antsy the more Kenji explained.

"She stabbed him in the side, **deep enough to kill him in a few minutes**. As he bled out, she went to get the bucket and the mop to clean up what she could of her crime scene. She cleaned up around the body and washed the knife.. but **since it was dark she didn't realise the blood she left in the sink**. Once done cleaning up, she put the bucket and mop back in the storage closet and **left the key in the door for Monosune to collect in the morning**. Then left for her dorm"

The silence was deafening, however it was quickly beaten by muffled sobs coming from the guilty. Kumiko fell from her stand onto the floor, crying into her hands. Everyone grimaced in a twisted amalgamate of fear and shock. 

"I-..I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. I..I-I.."

"So you admit it?" Kenji said, staring down at her.

Silently, she stood up and wiped her eyes as best as she could, "..I.. I admit it.. **I'm the one who killed Naoki**.."

"Why.. You could've gotten out of here alive!" Yuurei said, choking on his words. Kenji felt his heart tug a little, feeling bad for how deep in denial the noirette still was.

"..I know.. I was just desperate to get back to them.." She laughed weakly, "They are my world after all.."

"Nyahah!~ Looks like you're all ready to vote!" Monosune laughed, "I don't have any fancy buttons for you to push so point to who you think the blackened is!"

Everyone pointed at Kumiko, even she herself raised her hand to point at herself through her tears.

"Ding ding ding! You were all right! **Kumiko Fujisawa, The Super High School Level Poet, Is the murderer of Naoki Shirai!** "

..

Kumiko left her stall, walking over to Yuurei and handing him a folded up piece of paper. 

"Find them for me.. please.. i- it's my only request.."

"Well then- since that's the end of the trial let's get to the main event! Buckle up everyone for **the execution of our Poet is just beginning!** "

...

"E- Execution?!"

"What? Do you think I'd let a murderer found guilty roam around scot free??"

"No- no no- Please don't- D- Don't kill me!"

"Too late kid! Now then- **_It's Punishment time!_** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kumiko Fujisawa was found guilty!  
> Making her execution is gonna be fun- I'm basing it off of a poem I quite like called "Porphyria's Lover"
> 
> *******
> 
> [ ] Yuurei Maekawa - SHSL Superstition Researcher  
> [ ] Kenji Maeda - SHSL Graffiti Artist  
> [ ] Kumiko Fujisawa - SHSL Poet  
> [ ] Daichi Saitou - SHSL ???  
> [✘] Naoki Shirai - SHSL Florist  
> [ ] Hanae Tamaki - SHSL Radio Hostess  
> [ ] Rin Maki - SHSL Pyrotechnist  
> [ ] Rikori Seiki - SHSL Paintballer  
> [ ] Chiyo Ueda - SHSL Spirit Medium  
> [ ] Riku Hamasaki - SHSL Hacker  
> [ ] Takara Konada - SHSL Waitress  
> [ ] Katashi Ishikawa - SHSL Dancer  
> [✘] Kohaku Hisakawa - SHSL Theorist  
> [ ] Kohi Mame - SHSL Barista  
> [ ] Chinatsu Ogawa - SHSL Magical Girl  
> [ ] Yuri Tsnoda - SHSL Bassist


	5. Chapter 1 | Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kumiko Fujisawa, the SHSL Poet, is set to be executed! How will the other students cope with another death of a classmate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided the way i'm gonna do executions is write them out because drawing frame by frame would be tedious as shit and I don't have the patience or sanity to sit through that hellscape of an idea. Props to people who can actually do that tho.  
> Also I have decided to expand more on Yuurei's character a bit more- as originally I didn't tend to really fledge out his backstory as I didn't see his potential unlike Kenji. So there's a bit more reasoning behind his actions now and how he behaves in general.

Kumiko was dragged to the execution by a metal collar flying out from behind her, encasing her neck in its grip and pulling her back with force. The monitor above where Monosune sat lit up after a few minutes and the remaining students of the group stood helplessly, forced to watch the murder of their classmate. Kenji looked away from the screen, silently looking at the floor.

She was sat in a dark room, eyes flooding with tears as she sat still as she could. Her shaking got worse as the silence remained. Monosune giggled as he lifted up a microphone and began to speak.

"Welcome to the execution! I feel a bit bad if I'm honest so I decided to give you one last chance to redeem yourself and escape back to your classmates!"

Kumiko gasped, eyes lighting up as she heard Monosune's promise of a small slither of hope. The students watching smiled, praying to whatever they could she figured out the twisted game the fox wanted her to play. She stood up, nodding with confidence in her eyes as she listened out for the instructions.

"There's a key hidden in the room to unlock the door. Find it within the time limit and you'll get off scot free! But if you don't.. well the collar will just kill you in a stylised way! Gotta make you go out memorably after all, eh?"

A monitor within the execution room lit up, showing "2:00" in bright red letters. Kumiko nodded, taking in a shaky deep breath and jolting off to a start once the countdown started. Everyone was on edge as they watched the poet look around the room. Some like Rin and Katashi were glued to the screen, faces plastered with anxiousness and worry as the timer ticked down - an audible _tick tick tick_ counting down the seconds Kumiko had to live. Some like Takara, Hanae and Chinatsu were cheering on Kumiko, throwing whatever hope they had at the screen as they watched the cerisette. 

Yuurei stared at the monitor with deep fixation. He looked more nervous than usual, clutching the picture in his hands with an intense vigour. His body language wasn't normal in the slightest - at least that was the first thing that the green haired boy picked up on. From what he had encountered of Yuurei, nervousness wasn't a thing that came normally to him and to see something so prominent in a usually calm or sly person was wrong. It didn't add up. He continued to look at the noirette, picking up on his shaking figure and paler face. 

_Tick_

_Tick_

_Tick_

There was a minute left to go and Kumiko still hadn't found the key within the room. Her searching became more frantic and panicked until a ray of hope shone through and she found a key strapped to a box - Kumiko tore it off. Forty Five seconds. She scrambled up, running towards the door, seemingly much further away than anticipated. Thirty seconds. 

_Tick_

_Tick_

_Tick_

She put the key into the lock and turned the handle, a click echoing throughout the room. The door opened and she smiled, tears streaming down her face as in front of her. The two children she cared for so much stood on the other side of the door, smiling and excited to see their older sister. She reached out to them and froze. 

"Tiiiiiime's up!"

Yuurei's eyes widened as he cried out, "She opened the door! What do you mean time's up?!"

Monosune smiled and laughed, "She didn't get through the door on time so it didn't count! Now then- collar! Do your thing!"

The kids on the other side of the door disappeared in a blink and Kumiko yelled, hand shooting forward to only touch the screen of a monitor. They.. were fake?

The collar beeped loudly, a piercing wail filling the air that caused discomfort for many. Yuurei covered his ears and began panicking, eyes dropping to the floor as he writhed in what appear to be despair-inducing agony. Kohi took quick note of his state and rushed over, putting their arm around him and shielding him from the sounds and sights around him. Kenji could see the barista was calmly trying to talk to the noirette, making out a few mouthed words through the pleads, beeping and cries spewing from the monitor - it was all that filled the room with the new addition of Yuurei's crying.

Kenji looked over at the monitor. The collar around the poet's neck had let two strings of rope emerge from part of it, slowly wrapping around her neck with a mind of its own. Kumiko dropped to her knees, staring at the void behind the door as her throat began to tighten and skin turn pale and purple from the head down. She was choking and made no effort to fight it as it worsened.

"I- I- ..S-S-"

Suddenly she dropped to the floor after an audible crunch was heard. Her neck snapped and was clearly shown to be broken as her lifeless body hit the floor, bending in ways that shouldn't be real. The feed then cut off and everyone was left with their thoughts. Part of the attention was turned to Yuurei who was clinging to Kohi, the barista trying to offer what they could whilst the exit to the room wasn't in sight. 

"Now everyone out! Except for the barista and researcher kid- you two take a couple minutes to finish that" 

Everyone left without a word. Kenji stayed behind for a few seconds, looking over his shoulder to see Yuurei regaining his senses slowly as Kohi stayed by him. Monosune even bringing over a bottle of water out of what he assumed to be a moment of sympathy. He then left without a word.

* * *

The green haired boy sat at the cafeteria table, staring into his hands with a blank slate face- what had happened minutes before rung in his head; fresh and haunting. He exhaled a shaky breath, blinking away his oncoming fatigue and looked up. Yuri looked back at him, looking down at him with worry. 

"Y'okay?"

Kenji nodded, rubbing his eye and standing up from his chair. Yuri walked and stood next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and noticing his slightly visible flinch. The bassist retracted her hand and hovered it over his shoulder, putting it back down when she gained a hum of approval. She could see how tired he was, candy red eyes dimmed and no longer holding the same confident light shown within the trial room, the dark shadows under his eyes turned darker and red- he hadn't eaten much either from what Yuri had seen from a far. The only thing he touched was the onigiri Kohi had made and Yuurei had to force him to eat it before he starved.

"You can talk to me y'know" 

"No" He shook his head, "It's fine"

"Bottlin' this up won't do you any good. I may be childish I know... but I sure as hell ain't stupid" 

Kenji paused for a few minutes, clearly lost in his mind before a sudden snap back to reality. He took in yet another shaky breath and shrugged the hand off his shoulder, "I'm gonna find Maekawa. Did you see him come out with Mame yet?"

Yuri shook her head, "Nope haven't seen either of them about... maybe he's still in the trial room? Monosune won't lock someone in there until the next trial right?"

"..I'll have a look"

Kenji began to speed walk, quickly making his way to the gymnasium once again. He passed Kohi on the way there, and grabbed their attention before he continued.

"Mame- where's Maekawa?" 

"He's still in the trial room.. or at least the gymnasium. Monosune said he needed to close it up soon" They said, Kenji quickly thanked him and began running to the gymnasium. Laboured breaths increasing as he swung open the doors. Yuurei was sat on the stage, legs crossed as he hummed and looked at the photo clutched in his hands. His eyes lost their bright lilac glow and was replaced with a dull lavender instead. At the sound of the door swinging open, he looked up and stared down Kenji.

"What have you came here for?"

Yuurei was sat in the dark, only a few of his features illuminated from the flickering light above his head. Kenji could make out that his blazer was around his shoulders instead of being worn and his face was contorted into a spiteful, angry look. It looked wrong to not see him smiling.

"I came to see if you were still in the trial room.... after how you.....y'know" the green haired boy responded. His throat was growing dry and stomach knotting as the researcher stared him down.

"I see.."

The artist was unsure on what to say, words coming and going from his mind. He looked back up at Yuurei, not realising he was staring at the ground. The noirette looked tired and angry- as much as Kenji understood, he couldn't draw the line to why he was acting like this- especially when he was excited about this game at first.

"You were excited at first... what happened to that?"

Yuurei paused, "We've just witnessed two murders out of cold blood, Maeda"

"Y- You didn't react that at the sight of Hisakawa being _murdered_ in front of us Maekawa- and now you're suddenly acting like this- sympathy over an actual _murderer_??"

"She was a friend-"

" _Bullshit_! She was a stranger at best to all of us- you barely knew her enough to make a connection and now you're acting like you fucking knew each other like the back of your hand.." Kenji shook with anger, "Just fucking accept it and move on. Your 'friend' killed someone in cold blood and aimed to throw us all into an execution in her place if she got the chance" 

"And how are you so sure that was her plan?? None of us knew about the executions or trials so how could we know she'd betray us in... _that_ way"

"She still planned to leave us Maekawa" His voice was getting shaky now. Kenji knew he couldn't show weakness in this state, "You sound like a hypocrite.. saying we just saw a cold blooded murder and then the next second you're going on about how she wouldn't fuckin betray us"

Yuurei went quiet, staring down at Kenji. "You're shaking."

Kenji went tense as he pointed it out, holding his breath as the taller boy walked over and circled around him.

"What would you know about friends, Maeda?" The noirette said, beginning to walk off, shrugging the blazer off of his shoulders and holding it in his hands. The green haired boy reacted without thinking, grabbing Yuurei by the collar of his shirt, forcibly turning him round and delivering a swift punch across the face which caused the receiving to stumble back, dropping his blazer and holding his now bloodied nose.

"Karma. You believe in that stuff don't you?" Kenji said, body now shaking with a mix of adrenaline and anxiety. A shaky but cocky smile appeared on his face as he looked down at the researcher on the floor, "Bold words for a loner like your self Maekawa"

A low huff came from Yuurei, glassy eyes become sharp and focused as he wiped the blood dripping from his nose, "How childish of you.. a violent outburst isn't going to solve your problems" 

"Childish?!" The artist laughed, shakiness still ebbing through the layers of malice coating his voice, "Fuck me you really are a hypocrite.." 

"I'm not wasting my time anymore Maeda. This is a conversation for another day"

Yuurei left the room after picking up his blazer from the floor, still holding his nose as he swung the gymnasium doors open and disappeared behind them. Kenji was left to stand in the darkness, looking at his fist that had a few remnants of the noirette's blood on the glove. He smiled, gripping his fist tightly before letting out a small, breathless laugh that slowly deteriorated into a small sob.

"What would I know about friends..?" He mumbled, "..clearly more than you, Maekawa" 

* * *

Yuurei fell back onto his bed, discarding his jumper, tie and blazer on the desk lazily, running his hands through his hair as his nose continued to drip with blood. Kenji had delivered quite a strong punch for someone as small (in both height and frame) as him- it was impressive but annoying all at the same time. 

_I'll have Mame or someone check it out in the morning_ , He thought, getting up to grab something for his nose to bleed onto- quickly settling on some toilet paper from his bathroom and slumping back down onto his bed.

The confrontation with the artist replayed in his mind like a broken record, guilt bubbling in his stomach at how mercilessly cruel he was to Kenji for no apparent reason. He was too high off of his own delusion he ignored the signs and hurt someone because of it. He let out a small laugh at his own stupidity, the same hurt look Kenji wore was nothing new to him- he'd seen it many times during his life.

At least that's what he remembers. Most of his early childhood was hazy and usually consisted of small memories of him being alone or his parents being disappointed. His parents.. how long has it been since he saw them? He cut them off when he left for high school and shared a house with someone.. he couldn't remember who though, even if the name was on the tip of his tongue. He knew he didn't have the best relationship with his parents, they didn't really treat him like their child after all.

To them, Yuurei was nothing but a money making scheme due to his world altering talent- maybe that's why he grew to dislike his talent? The past was always hazy to him and sometimes he was thankful for his memory's blissful ignorance. The noirette still found it weird that Kenji's hurt look sent him down into this reminiscing state- the guilt that temporarily subsided came rising back and he sighed in annoyance to his own emotions.

"..I should talk to him" He thought out loud, "I.. must've scared him.."

He got up again, grabbing the blanket that was still draped messily over his couch and wrapping it around him like an oversized cape. Yuurei then laid down on his bed, softly humming as he brought the blanket closer to himself.

A thought then came to his mind, "..isn't this the blanket that Maeda-....." He paused, "...I'm too tired to think" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it's not obvious, for the execution I was a bit more inspired by YTTD after completing my playthrough of it recently. I've decided to take a few elements from that game since I feel like they did a few things better than Danganronpa did - e.g. The affects of death (I feel as if the only few good affects of death were either short lived or in the drv3 anime which isn't as popular). For anyone curious my favourite in YTTD is Joe or Midori.
> 
> Also there is no heterosexual explanation for that ending
> 
> *********  
> [ ] Yuurei Maekawa - SHSL Superstition Researcher  
> [ ] Kenji Maeda - SHSL Graffiti Artist  
> [✘] Kumiko Fujisawa - SHSL Poet  
> [ ] Daichi Saitou - SHSL ???  
> [✘] Naoki Shirai - SHSL Florist  
> [ ] Hanae Tamaki - SHSL Radio Hostess  
> [ ] Rin Maki - SHSL Pyrotechnist  
> [ ] Rikori Seiki - SHSL Paintballer  
> [ ] Chiyo Ueda - SHSL Spirit Medium  
> [ ] Riku Hamasaki - SHSL Hacker  
> [ ] Takara Konada - SHSL Waitress  
> [ ] Katashi Ishikawa - SHSL Dancer  
> [✘] Kohaku Hisakawa - SHSL Theorist  
> [ ] Kohi Mame - SHSL Barista  
> [ ] Chinatsu Ogawa - SHSL Magical Girl  
> [ ] Yuri Tsnoda - SHSL Bassist

**Author's Note:**

> I swear i can usually draw better than what Kohaku's death was presented as-  
> I wanted to focus more on the actual writing than the art for this one but i at least tried to make it look okay. Lined art isn't exactly my strong suit and it's required for this.  
> \---------------  
> [ ] Yuurei Maekawa - SHSL Superstition Researcher  
> [ ] Kenji Maeda - SHSL Graffiti Artist  
> [ ] Kumiko Fujisawa - SHSL Poet  
> [ ] Daichi Saitou - SHSL ???  
> [ ] Naoki Shirai - SHSL Florist  
> [ ] Hanae Tamaki - SHSL Radio Hostess  
> [ ] Rin Maki - SHSL Pyrotechnist  
> [ ] Rikori Seiki - SHSL Paintballer  
> [ ] Chiyo Ueda - SHSL Spirit Medium  
> [ ] Riku Hamasaki - SHSL Hacker  
> [ ] Takara Konada - SHSL Waitress  
> [ ] Katashi Ishikawa - SHSL Dancer  
> [✘] Kohaku Hisakawa - SHSL Theorist  
> [ ] Kohi Mame - SHSL Barista  
> [ ] Chinatsu Ogawa - SHSL Magical Girl  
> [ ] Yuri Tsnoda - SHSL Bassist


End file.
